Skip to content

Life Mapping

Life Mapping is an empowering process that enables us to gain an overall sense of who we are as a unique individual, and how we can orchestrate an authentic, productive, and satisfying life. The process is energized by the following template and by the curiosity and discussion that each of its subjects generates.

LIFE MAP TEMPLATE

Identify Your Page Zero Premises            Define Your Personal Community
Summarize Your Values and Beliefs        Define Your Role in the Larger Community
Define Your Aspirations and Purpose     Organize a Financial Plan
Plan for Further Education                        Develop Body Wisdom
Examine Your Career Path                         Develop Your Emotional Intelligence
Describe Your Ideal Partner                      Develop Social Wisdom
Outline Your Desired Lifestyle                  Explore Spiritual Wisdom

Fulfilling the potential of this template requires that we question the premises of our present orientation and begin to think and feel and consider what our own moral compass suggests about these major aspects of our existence. This systematic exploration helps empower us to become comprehensive, critical thinking,
self-directed individuals who areliberated from illusions, prejudices and self-limiting ideologies, and coherently oriented in a complex, rapidly changing, global environment. No one is demanding that we must change or adopt any particular orientation. Since it is our life to live, it is suggested that we direct it
from our own point of view.

We begin by writing our thoughts and feelings about each subject of the template, knowing that we are free to make changes at any time. To review what others have said about the subjects and to see what completed Life Maps look like, we will have access to a Database of Life Maps. Beyond what we can learn from the database and from class assignments, we are encouraged to explore the various subjects of the template through scholarly books, academic journal articles, credible Internet sites, and other recommended resources. We are also encouraged to share our thoughts and feelings about Life Mapping in the classroom and with family and friends.

As we go through the process of assembling our Life Map:

  • We begin to discern connections among disparate elements of knowledge that we have learned in school and from our experiences during the course of everyday life.
  • We become much more motivated to understand the world and our role within it because learning has become a personal affair, rather than what may have been largely an impersonal, tedious process of trying to make sense of an endless number of disconnected facts.
  • We realize that the mapping process is designed to help us arrive at our truth and our true identity as unique individuals, who are becoming whole, free, and empowered to shape our existence consciously from our own point of view.
  • We understand that we as individuals are the basic unit of the social process. Therefore, if not enough of us become comprehensive, critical thinking, self-directed individuals, who are coherently oriented in a complex, rapidly changing, global environment, we should not expect that we will have enough effective leaders and judicious followers to sustain a flourishing democracy.

Please note: The Life Mapping process, as well as the processes of Social Mapping and MetaVisioning,
are advanced as college courses initially, and then simplified in a manner that is appropriate for students
in high school and grade school. They are also designed for those of us beyond schools years – lifelong
learners who choose to stay awake, continue to learn, and make the most of our lives. Accordingly,
when I refer to “students” or to “we” or “us,” I am referring to all four groups of learners.

S U G G E S T E D  N E X T :  Social Mapping

No comments yet

Leave a Reply